Years ago, I had a flickering interest in conspiracy theory. Ryerson University used to run a show on Sunday mornings with tapes from people like John Judge, Fletcher Prouty, and Dave Emory. I recall John Judge explaining once how conspiracy is from Latin. spiros means to breath together, and con means with. In other words to breath together (Latin scholars, please feel free to correct me!). Judge would then joke, and some people have bad breath.

Fair enough. Conspiracy theory, for all its railings out the government and the Nazis, or whatever version you prefer (communists, bankers, Jews etc etc), was ultimately self defeating. It you accept the theories, you eventually came to the conclusion that they were all powerful, and there was nothing you could do. Better to keep your head down and hope for the best.

It’s a silly theory. One that I reject. I do believe that people are capable of creating a better world. and I’ve spent approximately the last thirty years of my life involved in various projects to that effect.

Conspiracy theory got a real shot in the arm after Oliver Stone’s JFK (OK, I admit it, it sparked my interest), but it seems to be making a come back in TV.

One of my favourite shows is the FX drama Damages.Aside from the outstanding performances from the stellar cast, and it’s compellingly structured plot, the thing I take away is TRUST NO ONE. EVERYONE IS CORRUPT. (Hmm, everyone’s got something to hide except me and my monkey?) In the case of Damages, it’s business. Season one, the villain was a capitalist who dumped his own stock to make a killing before his company tanked and wiped out his employees savings. Season two is an energy company with a corrupt robber barron CEO poisoning water in Virginia. But even the good guys, er girls, are not exactly saints. Crusading lawyer Patty Hughes plays all sorts of dirty tricks, including trying to have one of her own star lawyers murdered. REMEMBER TRUST NO ONE.

Flip then to 24, which I almost stopped watching because I felt it was getting too left wing (oh, that’s a a joke! ). Again, TRUST NO ONE. It’s business again, but it’s also government.

And my new fave Dollhouse, which is really blossoming into something wonderful, TRUST NO ONE – NOT EVEN YOURSELF. The Fox site has a feature entitled What would you do if you found out you were a doll?

Man, it’s a sad world when you can’t even rely on TV to re-assure you 🙂